Audio 3:05
Defence abuse investigator condemns Government approach

Samantha HawleyUpdated
Fri 15 Mar 2013, 9:02 AM AEDT

The lead investigator in the DLA piper review into Defence abuse has condemned the Government for not passing to senior defence officials a confidential volume of his report which details allegations of abuse

Transcript

TIM PALMER: The man who headed the DLA Piper investigation of abuse in the defence forces has criticised the Government for failing to pass the report's details of thousands of abuse cases to senior Defence officials.

Giving evidence before a Senate Committee, Gary Rumble says the decision to keep confidential a volume of specific allegations in the review is a significant break from his terms of reference and that he's "astonished" by the decision.

The Chief of the Defence Force David Hurley has told the same committee he wants to know if any of the alleged perpetrators of abuse are still serving officers.

The Government announced yesterday that it will make a payment of up to $50,000 to abuse victims.

From Canberra, Samantha Hawley reports.

SAMANTHA HAWLEY: This 41 year old Sydney man was allegedly abused by his superiors in the Army when he was just 18. He doesn't want his name made public so we'll call him "John".

JOHN: One day at the mess a bombardier corporal called me over and the next thing you know I was on the ground with my pants ripped down and being sexually assaulted. I had no idea that it was going to happen to me, you know.

SAMANTHA HAWLEY: It's obviously still very hard to talk about now.

JOHN: Yeah, yeah.

SAMANTHA HAWLEY: The former Army recruit is one of a thousand victims so far whose cases are being considered by the defence abuse taskforce. That number's expected to rise to 2000.

The taskforce will determine who'll receive Government payments of up to $50,000. "John" says it's an insult.

JOHN: $50,000 for 25 years of pain? It's a laugh! It is just another gimmick for the Government to turn around and say, look, we're doing something.

SAMANTHA HAWLEY: The Defence Minister Stephen Smith says the payment is not compensation and victims can still pursue their cases in the courts.

Many of those being reviewed by the taskforce arose from DLA Piper review into defence abuse.

Its lead investigator Gary Rumble has condemned Stephen Smith's decision not to give senior Defence officials a confidential volume of the review which details the specific allegations of abuse.

He's told a Senate Committee that's been a blow for the victims.

GARY RUMBLE: And I'm frankly astonished that the Government considers it's not appropriate for the secretary, the CDF and the service chiefs to be provided with details of allegations of abuse in Defence.

SAMANTHA HAWLEY: Department secretary Dennis Richardson says the decision was made to keep Defence at arms' length of an independent process.

DENIS RICHARDSON: If all the material had have been provided to me personally, that inevitably would have meant involving other people, which might have led to contamination in the eyes of some people.

SAMANTHA HAWLEY: But under cross examination the Chief of the Defence Force David Hurley told the Senators there is one thing he'd want to know.

DAVID HURLEY: I would like to know if there are currently serving members who have serious allegations being made against them that need to be dealt with.